Myth 3: It is Best to Eat Many, Small Meals Throughout The Day to "Stoke The Metabolic Flame"

It is often claimed that people should eat many, small meals throughout the day to keep the metabolism high.

But the studies clearly disagree with this. Eating 2-3 meals per day has the exact same effect on total calories burned as eating 5-6 (or more) smaller meals (9, 10).

Eating frequently may have benefits for some people (like preventing excessive hunger), but it is incorrect that this affects the amount of calories we burn.

There are even studies showing that eating too often can be harmful... a new study came out recently showing that more frequent meals dramatically increased liver and abdominal fat on a high calorie diet (11).

Bottom Line: It is not true that eating many, smaller meals leads to an increase in the amount of calories burned throughout the day. Frequent meals may even increase the accumulation of unhealthy belly and liver fat.

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Myth 4: Egg Yolks Should be Avoided Because They Are High in Cholesterol, Which Drives Heart Disease

However... several massive review studies have recently shown that saturated fat is NOT linked to an increased risk of death from heart disease or stroke (21, 22, 23).

The truth is that saturated fats raise HDL (the "good") cholesterol and change the LDL particles from small to Large LDL, which is linked to reduced risk (24, 25, 26).

For most people, eating reasonable amounts of saturated fat is perfectly safe and downright healthy.

Bottom Line: Several recent studies have shown that saturated fat consumption does not increase the risk of death from heart disease or stroke.

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Myth 7: Coffee is Unhealthy and Should be Avoided

Coffee has long been considered unhealthy, mainly because of the caffeine. However, most of the studies actually show that coffee has powerful health benefits.

This may be due to the fact that coffee is the biggest source of antioxidants in the Western diet, outranking both fruits and vegetables... combined (
27,
28,
29).

Coffee drinkers have a much lower risk of depression, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's... and some studies even show that they live longer than people who don't drink coffee (30, 31, 32, 33, 34).

Bottom Line: Despite being perceived as unhealthy, coffee is actually loaded with antioxidants. Numerous studies show that coffee drinkers live longer and have a lower risk of many serious diseases.

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Myth 8: Eating Fat Makes You Fat... so if You Want to Lose Weight, You Need to Eat Less Fat

Fat is the stuff that is under our skin, making us look soft and puffy.

Therefore it seems logical that eating fat would give us even more of it.

However, this depends entirely on the context. Diets that are high in fat AND carbs can make you fat, but it's not because of the fat.

In fact, diets that are high in fat (but low in carbs) consistently lead to more weight loss than low-fat diets... even when the low-fat groups restrict calories (35, 36, 37).

Bottom Line: The fattening effects of dietary fat depend entirely on the context. A diet that is high in fat but low in carbs leads to more weight loss than a low-fat diet.

It is often said that dietary protein increases strain on the kidneys and raises the risk of kidney failure.

Although it is true that people with established kidney disease should cut back on protein, this is absolutely not true of otherwise healthy people.

Numerous studies, even in athletes that eat large amounts of protein, show that a high protein intake is perfectly safe (38, 39, 40).

In fact, a higher protein intake lowers blood pressure and helps fight type 2 diabetes... which are two of the main risk factors for kidney failure (41, 42).

Also let's not forget that protein reduces appetite and supports weight loss, but obesity is another strong risk factor for kidney failure (43, 44).

Bottom Line: Eating a lot of protein has no adverse effects on kidney function in otherwise healthy people and improves numerous risk factors.

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Myth 10: Full-Fat Dairy Products Are High in Saturated Fat and Calories... Raising The Risk of Heart Disease and Obesity

High-fat dairy products are among the richest sources of saturated fat in the diet and very high in calories.

For this reason, we've been told to eat low-fat dairy products instead.

However, the studies do not support this. Eating full-fat dairy product is not linked to increased heart disease and is even associated with a lower risk of obesity (45).

In countries where cows are grass-fed, eating full-fat dairy is actually associated with up to a 69% lower risk of heart disease (46, 47).

If anything, the main benefits of dairy are due to the fatty components. Therefore, choosing low-fat dairy products is a terrible idea.

Of course... this does not mean that you should go overboard and pour massive amounts of butter in your coffee, but it does imply that reasonable amounts of full-fat dairy from grass-fed cows are both safe and healthy.

Bottom Line: Despite being high in saturated fat and calories, studies show that full-fat dairy is linked to a reduced risk of obesity. In countries where cows are grass-fed, full-fat dairy is linked to reduced heart disease.

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Myth 11: All Calories Are Created Equal, It Doesn't Matter Which Types of Foods They Are Coming From

It is simply false that "all calories are created equal." Different foods go through different metabolic pathways and have direct effects on fat burning and the hormones and brain centers that regulate appetite (48, 49, 50).

A high protein diet, for example, can increase the metabolic rate by 80 to 100 calories per day and significantly reduce appetite (51, 52, 53).

In one study, such a diet made people automatically eat 441 fewer calories per day. They also lost 11 pounds in 12 weeks, just by adding protein to their diet (54).

There are many more examples of different foods having vastly different effects on hunger, hormones and health. Because a calorie is not a calorie.

Bottom Line: Not all calories are created equal, because different foods and macronutrients go through different metabolic pathways. They have varying effects on hunger, hormones and health.

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Myth 12: Low-Fat Foods Are Healthy Because They Are Lower in Calories and Saturated Fat

When the low-fat guidelines first came out, the food manufacturers responded with all sorts of low-fat "health foods." The problem is... these foods taste horrible when the fat is removed, so the food manufacturers added a whole bunch of sugar instead.

It is true that some studies have shown negative effects, but they were usually lumping processed and unprocessed meat together.

The largest studies (one with over 1 million people, the other with over 400 thousand) show that unprocessed red meat is not linked to increased heart disease or type 2 diabetes (57, 58).

Two review studies have also shown that the link to cancer is not as strong as some people would have you believe. The association is weak in men and nonexistent in women (59, 60).

So... don't be afraid of eating meat. Just make sure to eat unprocessed meat and don't overcook it, because eating too much burnt meat may be harmful.

Bottom Line: It is a myth that eating unprocessed red meat raises the risk of heart disease and diabetes. The cancer link is also exaggerated, the largest studies find only a weak effect in men and no effect in women.

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Myth 14: The Only People Who Should go Gluten-Free Are Patients With Celiac Disease, About 1% of The Population

It is often claimed that no one benefits from a gluten-free diet except patients with celiac disease. This is the most severe form of gluten intolerance, affecting under 1% of people (61, 62).

But another condition called gluten sensitivity is much more common and may affect about 6-8% of people, although there are no good statistics available yet (63, 64).

However... people should eat foods that are naturally gluten free (like plants and animals), not gluten-free "products." Gluten-free junk food is still junk food.

But keep in mind that the gluten situation is actually quite complicated and there are no clear answers yet. Some new studies suggest that it may be other compounds in wheat that cause some of the digestive problems, not the gluten itself.

Bottom Line: Studies have shown that many people can benefit from a gluten-free diet, not just patients with celiac disease.

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Myth 15: Losing Weight is All About Willpower and Eating Less, Exercising More

Weight loss (and gain) is often assumed to be all about willpower and "calories in vs calories out." But this is completely inaccurate.

The human body is a highly complex biological system with many hormones and brain centers that regulate when, what and how much we eat.

It is well known that genetics, hormones and various external factors have a huge impact on body weight (69).

Junk food can also be downright addictive, making people quite literally lose control over their consumption (70, 71).

Although it is still the individual's responsiblity to do something about their weight problem, blaming obesity on some sort of moral failure is unhelpful and inaccurate.

Bottom Line: It is a myth that weight gain is caused by some sort of moral failure. Genetics, hormones and all sorts of external factors have a huge effect.

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Myth 16: Saturated Fats and Trans Fats are Similar... They're The "Bad" Fats That we Need to Avoid

The mainstream health organizations often lump saturated and artificial trans fats in the same category... calling them the "bad" fats.

It is true that trans fats are harmful. They are linked to insulin resistance and metabolic problems, drastically raising the risk of heart disease (72, 73, 74).

However, saturated fat is harmless, so it makes absolutely no sense to group the two together.

Interestingly, these same organizations also advise us to eat vegetable oils like soybean and canola oils.

But these oils are actually loaded with unhealthy fats... one study found that 0.56-4.2% of the fatty acids in them are toxic trans fats (75)!

Mainstream nutrition professionals have constantly warned us that these diets will end up clogging our arteries.

However, since the year 2002, over 20 studies have been conducted on the low-carb diet.

Low-carb diets actually cause more weight loss and improve most risk factors for heart disease more than the low-fat diet (79, 80).

Although the tide is slowly turning, many "experts" still claim that such diets are dangerous, then continue to promote the failed low-fat dogma that science has shown to be utterly useless.

Of course, low-carb diets are not for everyone, but it is very clear that they can have major benefits for people with obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome... some of the biggest health problems in the world (81, 82, 83, 84).

Bottom Line: Despite having been demonized in the past, many new studies have shown that low-carb diets are much healthier than the low-fat diet still recommended by the mainstream.